The World: A Family History of Humanity

Wow! Montefiore links broad, global history in his uniquely personal way. It's a kind of behind-the-scenes, uncensored, gritty, raw history from the fragments of largely first-hand witnesses. If you're considering reading this masterpiece, be prepared for an immersive journey that will stay with you long after the 1000 pages are turned. One of the book's true strengths lies in experiencing it on Kindle. Montefiore leaves a trail of breadcrumbs for the history-deep divers. Montefiore's team have researched the latest historical perspectives and recent archeology. 'The World' should be enjoyed alongside its footnotes spiced with Montefiore's linguistic expressions. It's a rich tapestry. Montefiore's unique storytelling and wordhoard vocabulary shines through as he connects characters and timelines across generations. The seamless flow of history, long sections divided by estimated global population from Stoneage, Rome's Caesars, and the grand civilizations of China and Maya till now is a testament to the author's skill. The global, parallel history exploration of these societies in the ever-unfolding timeline adds more richness to the narrative. It's a treasure hunt. 'The World: A Family History of Humanity' invites readers to traverse the realms of parallel history. There's a sense of adventure here. It's an absolute must-read for history enthusiasts. p.s. I see way off-the-mark negative reviews snipping this or that irrelevance. Something other than this book might be motivating the snipping. Perhaps they read a different book.

I was shocked when I received the book as to how many pages and large it is. To put it mildly, it's a daunting task to read the book, at the same time a joy and a fascinating journey. I can only applaud the author for his skill, expertise, depth and the wonder I experienced in the six months it took to read it. I would recommend it to anyone, anytime. And, amazingly, though I knew some of my family history and knew it went back to at least the 1500's, my family name was on page 461 and another page of a couple of Portuguese ship captains. It mentions a map that one given to the Ottomans that had been captured by my (likely, not confirmed yet) distant relative. And guess what, I have a copy of that map that a friend picked up for me when she was in Ankara thirty years ago. Amazing. Again, you must read this book as it is a tome of family and human history that portrays us humans in all our glory, and evil. Thanks to Simon Seabag Montefiore for his masterpiece.

This world history's unique approach and the author's skill as a writer carries the reader through 1,262 pages. I read it all and it is worthwhile. I just emailed these comments to one of the contacts listed on the author's web site, a good summary of the book's shortcomings: Sir, a magnum opus such as your book, The World: A Family History of Humanity, deserves good editing, indexing, and fact checking. I refer to the First American edition published by Knopf, ISBN 9780525659532 (hardcover). I read your book over several months, finishing it in early August. There were more than a hundred clear copy-editing errors; I do not list any here. There were also places where a good editor could improve your choice of terms or your writing, without changing your preferred writing style. The index lacks needed entries. For example, there is no index entry for Pearl Harbor (page 1044, index page 1292). While the index does contain many place names, the bias--somewhat justified--of the index is toward indexing persons, due to the personal and family focus of your history. However normal standards of indexing should be observed even if it means expending more pages. I saw enough clear factual errors to make me nervous: Pearl Harbor was attacked on 7 December 1941, not 8 December (page 1044). In the Korean War, McArthur did not counterattack with a million American troops. About 327 thousand of his troops were Americans, most were South Koreans, and of course there were contingents from more than 20 other countries (page 1086). Donald Trump was elected President in 2016 not 2019 (page 1246). That error should have been caught by any reviewer familiar with the quadrennial election cycle in the USA. A book as magnificent as this one deserves to be polished and perfected with better editing, indexing, and fact checking. I still recommend buying this book.

Not finished with the 1262 pages* [not including bibliography] of what I am finding to be fascinating reading. This is not the usual fact filled but dry/boring history book. The author includes interesting and sometimes titillating insight into the personalities of rulers and their family members from the BCs to the present day. Historical country names along with current names as well as practices and beliefs provide meaningful context to historical and present events. If you are interested in stories of intrigue, love, greed, betrayal, conquest, tragedy and triumph buy this book! *What I did not like about the Kindle version is that all footnotes were placed at the end of each chapter so did not provide immediate important context for events and relationships under discussion. Consequently, I now have the hard copy book.

Fascinating collection of facts about history around the world. Great to pick up and read almost any chapter. Although really long, I couldn’t put it down,

The book was delivered on time and well packaged! In fact book was even better than described and I am extremely pleased with this vender and would recommend them to everyone interested in getting quality books at a great price! Thank you for a pleasant transaction!

Simon Sebag Montefiore's massive book contains an incredible amount of information. The World certainly appears to be very well researched. This is reflected in the book's extensive details. However, the author's writing is average, and the readability is below average. I do have mixed feelings about giving The World a rating of three stars. While Dr. Montefiore can certainly write well, there were far too many long-winded sentences (which should have been addressed by better editing). What's more, the readability is impacted by quoting other sources. On a positive note, the book contains a tremendous amount of information. Overall, it was quite an effort to get through the book. Three stars seems to be a reasonable rating. The book does use page-specific notes. This is a bit unorthodox, but it seemed to work well for the book. The World does not include a bibliography (which I believe was extremely long). The bibliography was available online, and I'm sure it would have been a great resource--perhaps even enough to warrant a rating of four stars. Unfortunately, the bibliography doesn't appear to be available (Dr. Montefiore's personal website seems to have incorporated into a publisher's website).

Montefiore is a great communicator and a lover of history who is able to transmit that love to the readers. What I most appreciated about this wonderful book is that you learn about the role, many times informal but nevertheless powerful and influential, that female powerful figures played in history behind their formal powerfully husbands, brothers, lovers, or sons nominated as kings, emperors, etc. This in a way that feels realistic and not contrived meaning Montefiore achieves balance between previous historical books and sources focusing more on the male figures and his own additions on how female and family life contributed to historical decisions, without denying or deriding the male protagonists of history, something unfortunately common in recent so called progressist history books where authors less cultivated and less factual than Montefiori, more political motivated and less factually motivated, all the sudden say history was only made by women in exactly the same untrue way that former misogynism authors said it was only made by men. Montefiori gives us the full view: It was made by both! Likewise in the East versus West dichotomy he remains factual not going from previous West all perfect to now East all perfect view. He is balanced and makes history by adding rather than subtracting! Great book

Excelente libro y lego en excelentes condiciones, llegó antes de lo esperado, muy contento con mi compra!

The greatest ride through world history. It's not just the depth of detail, but the panache in the presentation. Read the footnotes too; they are truly the cherry on top.

Eigentlich ist es ja Quatsch, nur mal eben die Geschichte der ganzen Welt in einem Buch zu erklären. Aber wenn das so vergnüglich und so kenntnisreich geschieht, macht es nur Spaß! Der Autor hat sich vorgenommen, die Menschheitsgeschichte aus der Sicht der Familien und das heißt natürlich häufig aus der besser dokumentierten Sicht der Herrscherfamilien zu erklären. Im Ergebnis mag man das Buch gar nicht mehr aus der Hand legen. Unentwegt gibt es Gift und Mordschlag, untreue Frauen und Männer, unfähige und brillante Herrscher und das wird eben nicht eurozentrisch sondern für alle Kontinente beschreiben. Zwischendurch, wenn es passt, beschreibt er auch die Geschichte seiner eigenen sephardischen Familie, wie sie aus Spanien vertrieben wurde. Oder, dass in weiten Teilen der Welt die DNA einen gemeinsamen Vorfahren aufweist. Vermutlich Dschingis Khan, der eben nicht nur Krieger anführte sondern auch sonst gut beschäftigt war....

I would've wanted to give more stars but the binding is aweful, I opened it up, carefully as I' d read that pages fall out.. and lo and behold, crack, the binding is coming undone. Shame, now I' m in a dilemma.. to send it back or not. I want to read it but it's falling apart.

When I heard that Simon Sebag had written “A Family History of Humanity,” the first thing that came to mind was the work of that fictional historian Eilert Lovborg, from Ibsen’s play Hedda Gabler. Eilert had “just published” a book “on the course of civilization – in all its stages,” which was being hailed as a great work. I somehow knew that Sebag’s book would be a real-life magnum opus. And it is. Through almost 1300 pages filled with erudition, sprinkled with witty commentary and no shortage of opinions, the author shows why he is a preeminent historian, one of those few that combine extraordinary breadth of knowledge with rigorous research and great writing skills. It is a book to savour, to go through it with no rush, to read and re-read. You will draw your own conclusions about humanity. I will just quote one from the author: “…human momentum is not just a march of progress but also a stuttering spasm of contingencies.”